For those in the public incapable of taking hints (or just find themselves lacking the will to start reading) Harry further embellishes the details of an oft recommended series of novels. Spoilers, if you are in to that sort of thing...

Among the Science fiction that Bungie says has influenced them is the book Ringworld by Larry Niven. In Ringworld's sequel we discover who built the Ringworld. If you are plannig on reading either of these books(and they both are very good and worth your time) then you might not want to read this as it will proberly contain spoilers.

Well in the books the race that created the Ringworld are the "Pak" a technologically advanced but warlike race. Well the Pak have 3 growth stages child, breeder and then Protector(this is also the title of another Niven book which describes the Pak, this is also a very good book and worthwgile read).At some point the Pak stopped making war with each other long enough to send out a colonisation ship. Eventually this ship reached the solar system SOL. However the Protectors attempts to "evolve" the breeders into other Protectors failed as the plant they used to transform them, wouldn't grow correctly in the soil of the planet they landed on. So without their plant "tree-of-life" no more Protectors could be made. Eventually the not-quite-sentinent breeders evolved into us, human beings.

So maybe the forerunner are like the Pak and we,the humans, are their less intelligent cousins. Although perhaps rather than having a missing growth stage perhaps the forerunner were something like the MC; genetically changed to be stronger, faster, smarter than the average human.

Perhaps. How closely this inspiration has been followed in Halo is left to be seen. (Don't worry. He hasn't ruined all the story's twists; there is more than enough detail left to satiate a bout of weekend reading :)